WIFI
Well I had quite a time figuring out the wifi abilities of
this computer. I bought it especially for going out on
the road and being able to use it to do email and surf the net as I need.
The computer has a wireless card inside it and is supposed to be ready to go to
hook up to any ‘hot spot’ that is around. A ‘hot spot’ is a zone around
a transmitter where you can pick up a signal. I had no idea how big these zones
might be.
When I first tried using wifi I was in the library in
Beatty, NV and the librarian said that they had the system installed but so far
I was the first person to come it and use it. I spent two days there trying to
get the darn thing to work with no results. My computer found their transmitter
and said I had a good signal, but I could never get ‘hooked up’.
When I went through Boulder City, NV I stopped in at a
Starbucks Café and there was a young guy there that filled me in on what was
the deal. I opened my computer and it
found the signal right away and took me to a website that charges you I think it
was $30/ month to hook up and use
the internet wireless connection there. I guess you have to go in a buy a $3 cup
of coffee and hang out there using their signal. That didn’t interest me
‘cause I am no going to be there or any other Starbucks.
When is got down here to Quartzite I found a guy that was
selling wifi service as well as he has a couple of computer hooked up that he
charges people $5 for a half hour or $7 for an hour. He has a variable scale for
using his wifi service. I signed up for 24 hours of use and it cost $9.60 which
is 40 cents an hour I think. I had a really hard time getting my puter to hook
up to his signal and his transmitter tower is only about a ½ mile away on a 50
foot tower. They had a little plastic doohickey with a couple small
aerials that they were selling for
$55 to those who don’t have the wifi card installed in
their puter so they could pick up the signal. My puter already has the
card so I didn’t need one (or so I thought). There is a icon in the lower
right that shows the signal strength and mine was showing that the signal was
good but when I tried to do anything is was just SO slow I was wishing for my
old 21kbs land line. He recommended I get nearer to the tower and
told my that my computer card was the problem. I moved closer and even
hiked over to the tower and sat under the damn thing which helped some. The guy
kept telling me that the problem was the card in my puter and I of course
didn’t believe him because it’s mine and I paid good money for
this new technology and it must be his system is screwed up. I badgered
the poor guy and I know I was the customer from hell, but they said “no”
there are others that have that slot already…
After much explaining it finally got through this thick
skull what it was he was trying to tell me. Evidently my puter is picking up his
signal very well, the problem is that the signal from my card doesn’t have the
strength to reach his tower with sufficient force to transmit its wishes. On a
land line the info is going both ways at the same time. On this wireless system
there are two info paths and they never touch. One signal goes form my cmputer
to the transceiver and up to the satellite, and one form the satellite down to
the transmitter to my computer. The problem I was having trouble with was that
it showed I was getting a strong signal, but what I didn’t
realize is that MY signal to the tower was too weak for it to work at any
speed. The bottom line is that I bought the little aerial thingy and it works
very well now. I don’t know the exact speed but it is fast for sure.
The card that is installed is adequate for most wifi
services I think, because most of them are made for using in a small
area like the Starbucks or an office building. The little aerial thing
should help the speed and availability if I were to go to a truck stop and be in
the parking lot. I am still learning and I guess this wifi system is just now
starting to take off. I still can’t
use my Outlook mail program and have to go to the web and go to my ISP to get my
mail, but it is better than waiting in a library for some kid to use up his time
playing games so you can use the computer. Dang kids anyway!!!!
He told me that there are about 25% of the truck stops that
are wifi now and he thinks that 75% should be hooked up by the end of the year.
I am not sure the charges on the truck stop usage but if I find out I will let
you know. Flying J truck stops are supposed to be wifi.
1-1-2004
What a gorgeous day, I feel your pain up there in the cold country.J It was
rather quiet night here at the Hi Jolly campsite. There were a few campfires around and I could hear the music from one distant campsite. I woke during the night and got out the radio to check on the dire warnings that were posted yesterday. I see that Las Vegas is still there (mixed feelings about that). It had me somewhat worried, as it is not too far away.
There is a post below from a Canadian Editor that sends me a newsletter daily. This is an excerpt form the latest post. I guess that this is what has been going into that tasty pepperoni on those pizzas. I remember several years ago reading the ingredients on a package of chorizo (Mexican sausage) and never again have I eaten that. My dad watched a special on chicken processing on TV and my mom was never able to serve chicken to him again. It just seems somehow so gross to even think of eating some of that stuff. I remember going through the meat processing plant in Iceland and looking at the mushy stuff they were putting in hot dog casings. They even had this red dye goop that they added to it, to make it look less grey. Yuck…… I don’t think there was any meat in that stuff at all, just unidentifiable pieces of guts and ????
There is also another post below from a gold forum I lurk at. It is really something to ponder for sure.. this guy post often and his comments are always on the mark. It has to do with Social Security and what we can expect out of it… bad news for young and old alike.
I’ll add this as well from another guy that posts on the same forum…
Gold up 20%? Only in US$ terms . . .compared with any other benchmark, it has remained stable, exhibiting its "insurance mode" against the US$ decline. The real bull begins when gold rises against $AU, rand, Euro, $CA, etc.
There has been very little said in the media that I am aware of about this. Essentially it means that the dollar in your pocket is worth 20% less this year than last on the world market. They inflation rate has stayed constant in the us at what, 3 percent? How is this possible? The gold bugs are predicting a melt down after the election, if they can hold it together that long. These are very interesting times for sure….
1/3/04
it was really windy today and it even spit a few rain drops. I set up my bench and worked outside. I bought a piece of ‘pastel soapstone’ the day before at one of the vendors booths. It is stone that comes from Montana, so I guess that is appropriate. I had a little fire going this morning to take off the chill and it was nice carving by the fire. I took a break and hopped on the bike and made a run up the road behind the camp with Ely. We both needed the exercise and I am trying to get my legs in shape by just cranking hard and fast and not stopping until I get to the cross road about three miles up the hill. Ely ran out of regular big dog, dog food and I had to buy some puppy chow at the store as that was all they had other than cat food. She has really chowed down on that puppy food and I think she could get fat on it. There are a lot of dogs that these RV people travel with. Most of them are little tiny white mops and they take them out and have them on a string thing. Ely always wants to go meet them and so far they have all been miserable, snarly, little shits. Lets see, I met; Precious, puddles, frisky, gorgeous, and a couple of shitz u’s (at least that’s what I think she said they were) I didn’t get their names. God, I hope I never have to take a poodle out for a walk on a string.
I talked with a lady that sells Navaho jewelry today and they have the best stuff I have seen around here. They must have at least a million dollars in inventory on display. She said they will be set up for six weeks here and then another four or five at another place here in Quartzite after this show. She told me that the crowds are just starting to arrive and that they will have over one million people come through in January alone. Wow! What a market. She said that soon it will be bumper to bumper and the whole place will be just packed with people. There are several large areas that vendors set up in around town and everywhere inbetween. I would guess that they cover more than a square mile if they were all in one spot. I have heard that it is impossible to see it all and I am starting to get the picture. Most of the vendors you can cruise right past but every now and then there is something really cool going on. There are every kind of rock, mineral, gemstone, here in raw or cut and polished form. I got to talking with a guy from Nebraska and he and his wife have an amazing collection of fossils, some for sale and some for show. Thatis the way it is at some booths, a lot of the people here don’t make money on what they do with rocks, they just love them and like to talk rocks and rock stories. Some of these old guys can really tell a good story. Good story telling is really a gift, I wish I could tell stories well, maybe some day when I get really old……and have something to say…..
1/4/04
I had a quick visit from Ed (the guy that bought the farm) on his way back to work in LA. I didn’t realize how close it is, about three and a half hours. He said that there was a foot of snow on the farm and six degrees. I guess Mike Blum decided not to farm/hay the place for next year. He thinks he got a job driving truck which doesn’t take any brains or work.
Oh, I just checked MC and it is –12 with a wind chlll of –24 and a high tomorrow of –6 and a low of -18
Cheers, Rx
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
From Canada…..
in case you haven't seen this, i'm enclosing a news release that cindy
McCreath from cdn cattlemen's assoc sent to me .
WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2003-Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman today
announced additional safeguards to bolster the U.S. protection systems
against Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or BSE, and further protect public
health.
"For more than a decade, the United States has had in place an
aggressive surveillance, detection and response program for BSE," said
Veneman. "While we are confident that the United States has safeguards and
firewalls needed to protect public health, these additional actions will
further strengthen our protection systems."
Veneman said the policies announced today have been under consideration
for many months, especially since the finding of a case of BSE in Canada in
May 2003. The policies will further strengthen protections against BSE by
removing certain animals and specified risk material and tissues from the
human food chain; requiring additional process controls for establishments
using advanced meat recovery (AMR); holding meat from cattle that have been
tested for BSE until the test has confirmed negative; and prohibiting the
air-injection stunning of cattle.
While many cattle in the United States can be identified through a
variety of systems, the Secretary also announced that USDA will begin
immediate implementation of a verifiable system of national animal
identification. The development of such a system has been underway for more
than a year and a half to achieve uniformity, consistency and efficiency
across this national system.
"USDA has worked with partners at the federal and state levels and in
industry for the past year and a half on the adoption of standards for a
verifiable nationwide animal identification system to help enhance the speed
and accuracy of our response to disease outbreaks across many different
animal species," Veneman said. "I have asked USDA's Chief Information
Officer to expedite the development of the technology architecture to
implement this system a top priority.
"These are initial steps that USDA will take to enhance our protection
system," Veneman said. "I am appointing an international panel of scientific
experts to provide an objective review of our response actions and identify
areas for potential additional enhancements."
Specifically, USDA will take the following actions:
ü Downer Animals. Effectively immediately, USDA will ban all downer cattle
from the human food chain. USDA will continue its BSE surveillance program.
ü Product Holding. USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service inspectors will
no longer mark cattle tested for BSE as "inspected and passed" until
confirmation is received that the animals have, in fact, tested negative for
BSE. This new policy will be in the form of an interpretive rule that will
be published in the Federal Register. To prevent the entry into commerce of
meat and meat food products that are adulterated, FSIS inspection program
personnel perform ante- and post-mortem inspection of cattle that are
slaughtered in the United States. As part of the ante-mortem inspection,
FSIS personnel look for signs of disease, including signs of central nervous
system impairment. Animals showing signs of systemic disease, including
those exhibiting signs of neurologic impairment, are condemned. Meat from
all condemned animals has never been permitted for use as human food.
ü Specified Risk Material. Effective immediately upon publication in the
Federal Register, USDA will enhance its regulations by declaring as
specified risk materials skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, vertebral
column, spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia of cattle over 30 months of age
and the small intestine of cattle of all ages, thus prohibiting their use in
the human food supply. Tonsils from all cattle are already considered
inedible and therefore do not enter the food supply. These enhancements are
consistent with the actions taken by Canada after the discovery of BSE in
May.
In an interim final rule, FSIS will require federally inspected
establishments that slaughter cattle to develop, implement, and maintain
procedures to remove, segregate, and dispose of these specified risk
materials so that they cannot possibly enter the food chain. Plants must
also make that information readily available for review by FSIS inspection
personnel. FSIS has also developed procedures for verifying the approximate
age of cattle that are slaughtered in official establishments. State
inspected plants must have equivalent procedures in place.
ü Advanced Meat Recovery. AMR is an industrial technology that removes
muscle tissue from the bone of beef carcasses under high pressure without
incorporating bone material when operated properly. AMR product can be
labeled as "meat." FSIS has previously had regulations in place that
prohibit spinal cord from being included in products labeled as "meat."
The
regulation, effective upon publication in the Federal Register, expands that
prohibition to include dorsal root ganglia, clusters of nerve cells
connected to the spinal cord along the vertebrae column, in addition to
spinal cord tissue. Like spinal cord, the dorsal root ganglia may also
contain BSE infectivity if the animal is infected. In addition, because the
vertebral column and skull in cattle 30 months and older will be considered
inedible, it cannot be used for AMR.
In March 2003, FSIS began a routine regulatory sampling program for beef
produced from AMR systems to ensure that spinal cord tissue is not present
in this product. In a new interim final rule announced today, establishments
have to ensure process control through verification testing to ensure that
neither spinal cord nor dorsal root ganglia is present in the product.
ü Air-Injection Stunning. To ensure that portions of the brain are not
dislocated into the tissues of the carcass as a consequence of humanely
stunning cattle during the slaughter process, FSIS is issuing a regulation
to ban the practice of air-injection stunning.
ü Mechanically Separated Meat. USDA will prohibit use of mechanically
separated meat in human food.
On Dec. 23, Secretary Veneman reported that a cow in Washington State has
tested positive for BSE. A swift and comprehensive investigation is ongoing
to trace the animal to a herd of origin, which is believed to be located in
Alberta, Canada, as well as track additional animals that have entered the
United States. (For the latest update on the investigation, visit
www.usda.gov.)
For more than a decade, the United States has had in place an aggressive
surveillance, detection and response program for BSE. The United States has
tested over 20,000 head of cattle for BSE in each of the past two years, 47
times the recommended international standard.
Since 1989, USDA has banned imports of live ruminants and most ruminant
products from the United Kingdom and other countries having BSE.
In 1997, the FDA prohibited the use of most mammalian protein, the main
pathway to spread the disease should it be in the United States, in the
manufacture of animal feed intended for cattle and other ruminants.
Statement from Canadian Cattlemen's Association:
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman announced this afternoon a number
of additional steps that will be undertaken in the U.S. to further enhance
their food safety system.
These new steps for the most part bring the U.S. up to speed with Canada.
Some initial questions we will be seeking further clarification on are their
definition of downer animals (all downer cattle will be banned from the
human food chain), and whether the news release is correct in stating the
entire small intestine of all cattle is to be declared a Specified Risk
Material (Veneman verbally stated the U.S. SRM policy will match Canada's;
Canada's policy declares a portion of the small intestine, the distal ileum,
to be an SRM). Their announcement today will also prohibit the use of
mechanically separated meat in human food. This product is still sold in
Canada.
Veneman also stated the USDA is working to take the next steps toward a
national identification program for cattle in the U.S.
Cindy McCreath
Communications Manager
Canadian Cattlemen's Association
fax 403-274-5686
phone 403-275-8558
Daily Updates
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
From the gold forum…………
Mr Gresham (12/31/03;
03:52:42MT - usagold.com msg#: 114381)
Thoughts on Savings, and Social Security
I
updated my own long-term savings plan today. (Plan #1, though modest, was right
on target after 15 years. A lot of luck in there -- and some good company --
helped me ride out some bad times.)
To update was simple, but the conclusion sobering.
I pick a target, figure out my monthly increase in net worth necessary to reach
it, and set up a tracking system to look at my progress every few months. Of
course the target is a guesswork at how I'll want to live decades from now, and
leaves out the unknowable interim events, But -- you have to make a guess at
SOMETHING -- and it gives me a prompt for how hard I need to work now, and how
frugal I have to be with my earnings. (Plus how to factor in my investment
results -- to let me relax somewhat, or intensify my efforts.)
(I'm also easy, at least for now, with my own slippages. That monthly goal is
going to be a tough one, and I may need time to get used to it. It's not a
prescription for panic, just for ramping up to some smarter efforts.)
Social Security is not in my plan, and like most people today say, it will be a
bonus if it happens. The problem is, most of them really don't have anything
else going besides SS and they really ARE counting on it. For most, it would be
like having a $200,000 annuity going for them, and their personal savings are
something like $50,000 and their home equity.
It's just impossible to believe that a $200,000 potential payable nut really can
exist anywhere, in protected form, for more than the small percentage of our
CURRENT retirees, let alone an onslaught of future ones. The Ponzi scheme has
run too long already.
I wonder how the de facto Social Security default will play out. For political
PR purposes, of course, the program will be kept propped up on the podium, like
Brezhnev toward the end.
But cuts effectively will happen. And politicians will make career moves to
slide down the middle of cloaking financial reality in PR illusion to "Save
Social Security." But the Fed Gov will be largely insolvent by that time,
bleeding from a thousand other debt obligations.
Which aspect of elderly income support will be compromised first?
My guess is that the COLAs will bear most of the loss. It was their adoption in
the early 70s under Nixon that put the "trust" fund in the jeopardy it
reached a decade later, when the tax rate had to be raised to its current 15.3%.
A flat, frozen paycheck for life, like the old job pension checks that were
inflated away in the 70s. A likely result, given government finances and the
limits on taxability of the labor force.
Expect this to be accompanied by a blitzkrieg campaign to BLAME INFLATION on
outside forces (Arabs? Chinese? Euros?) and not our own Fed and Gov. They need
to lose at least half the real SS obligation level before anyone notices enough
to forcefully demand COLAs again.
I don't know if most people know the investment comparison on SS
"contributions", by employee and employer. For the low-income person
who retired 20 years ago, it has been like holding T-bonds (well, not quite as
good as) with annuity-like returns something like 6%, probably all tax-free.
For the high-income earners of that time, maybe a 3% return, and that taxed down
to 2%.
Today's Boomer retirees will probably see the 3% return for the low-incomers,
and a flat "return of capital paid in" dollar-for-dollar for the
high-earners. (Taxed, of course.)
Gen-Xers? Well, they're on to it. They say they expect zero, but the PR machine
will be at work to show them it is "doing something for them, too."
Probably a small minimum flat benefit?
A lot will be made of increasing longevity (that could reverse quickly, however
-- as it did in post-Soviet Russia as retirees were left with defaulted
pensions), in order to raise the age for each benefit level. And, by 2012, when
they find me and a few million others running to grab the reduced benefit at age
62, they'll panic over the drain on the Federal cash flow. Wouldn't be surprised
at a sudden age raise, or another means test.
I also can't imagine millions of elderly being allowed to "pass their
golden years in dignity" in the homes in which they've built up some
spendable equity. In other words, I think they'll be forced to sell (or take
reverse-annuity mortgages -- selling on the installment plan) in order to
survive. Plus take in boarders, or kids, or -- like one 84-year-old woman I know
-- party animal grandkids. Sheesh!
Playing the inter-generational battle will be some politicians' forte, as well.
I wonder if AARP has strategists at this point talking about how to counter
that? Politically, they would talk a good "social contract for the good of
all generations" line, while holding what they can for their constituency.
Statesmenlike conduct would call instead for them becoming "good
parents" to society and maintaining the best elements of SS while
equalizing the lifetime returns of ALL contributors to the fund. And
sequestering it from the rest of US Gov finances.
Our role in all of this? I'm not one who thinks we need to promote the role of
gold. I think that is for INDIVIDUALS to arrive at, one by one, on their own.
Gold is real savings, which remains after all other schemes fold up and leave
town.
Society cannot benefit AS A WHOLE by adopting gold saving. Only individuals can,
by their own astute decision-making. One individual will get the Eagle the other
does not. The Eagle will exist, in one hand or another, no matter how we try to
teach common-sense economic saving. And US Americans will not reach for their
share, no matter what we say, before the rest of the world has beaten them to
the lion's share. In other words, the price will be high before we stop the
bleeding on these shores.
But the sudden onset of panic over SS (the great narcotic against self-saving)
and the realization of how small an individual's reliable savings truly are will
lead to those individuals cashing in what they can of the other plans and
tucking away those few small gold holdings, in hopes that the high price they've
paid will still be doubled or tripled before they need to cash it in, so they
may eat.
That hope, and the hope that their kids will still take them in.
Those last-ditch efforts by them will help re-price our "too-early"
efforts at the same necessary saving. We may have enough extra to help a few
others, but perhaps we'd do better to collectively endow a Mises chair at a few
universities?
The decline of life's working energies into death is the ultimate Fundamental,
and everyone will intersect that curve somewhere. To be helpless without savings
was perhaps the ultimate preventable fear in all human history. It was certainly
paid attention to as a natural part of life. Among other choices, and gambles.
Our fiat and social "safety-net" system has short-circuited and WASTED
the fruitful years that should have gone to meeting that fundamental. The
consequences may be tragic for some, but I choose to hope that many will adopt
simpler living with a sense of relief, and a view toward a human future more
sustainable than the time we have just lived through.
In other words, people will reap what they have sown, mostly. It's just sad that
some will find that they have bought, and tended, bad seed, all these years...